O'Reilly's located in the Lamington National Park, SE Queensland, is famous for its breathtaking views and abundant birdlife. However I was surprised to discover that it has a small captive collection of native animals used in two daily shows. The first is a Bird of Prey show held every afternoon, and costing $17.50 for an adult. Five birds were used in the show I attended although apparently they have around 36 birds in total. Barn owl Barking owl Black kite Australian kestrel Wedge-tailed eagle (did not fly) The Wildlife show was held at 10 in the morning and cost $15. Thi was more of an interactive experience. Animals shown were: Sooty owl Australian magpie Squirrel gliders Coastal carpet python In both shows there was only one presenter, which means they had to run back and forth from the mews exchanging animals. However the information they presented was interesting and informative. Of course I was there for the wild birds, and O'Reilly's is famous for them. it is not uncommon in Australia to come across locations where one or two parrot species have been habituated to feed from visitors. O'Reilly's have gone further with several species of passerine that will come to be fed. I was only there for two nights so had limited opportunities for birdwatching. The hotel runs a birdwalk free of charge which I took the first morning, the second we walked out to Python Rock, a walk that is supposed to be good for Albert's lyrebirds and paradise riflebirds, neither of which appeared. Wild animals I did see during my stay that I identified were: Dusky antechinus Short-eared possum Red-legged pademelon Red-necked pademelon Australian brushturkey Wonga pigeon Brown cuckoo-dove Australian king parrot (habituated) Crimson rosella (habituated) Sooty owl Noisy pitta (dead) Satin bowerbird (habituated) Regent bowerbird (habituated) Superb Fairy-wren Lewin's honeyeater (habituated) Brown thornbill Brown gerygone Yellow-throated scrubwren White-browed scrubwren Australian logrunner Eastern whipbird (habituated) Pied currawong Grey shrikethrush (habituated) Golden whistler Torresian crow Eastern yellow robin (habituated) Welcome swallow Russet-tailed thrush Bassian thrush
That makes sense, in that when the kestrel disappeared behind the treeline for a period, the presenter made a comment to the effect the bird was not his. However I got the impression both the presenters were O'Reilly employees.
